FREMONT COUNTY COMMISSIONERS MEETING MINUTES FEBRUARY 11, 2013

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1 FREMONT COUNTY COMMISSIONERS MEETING MINUTES FEBRUARY 11, 2013 Present for the meeting was: Commissioners Lee Miller, Jordon Stoddard and Bill Baxter. Also attended by: Clerk Abbie Mace, Deputy Clerk Laura Singleton, Assessor Kathy Thompson, Deputy Sheriff Bart Quayle, Chief Deputy Sheriff Thad Garner, Treasurer J Lene Cherry, Planning and Building Administrator Tom Cluff, and Prosecuting Attorney Karl Lewies Commissioner Miller called the meeting to order and welcomed those in attendance. Deputy Clerk Laura Singleton offered the prayer. Commissioner Stoddard led the pledge. Elected Officials Planning and Building Administrator Tom Cluff stated that they lost one of their employees, who was riding a snowmobile, and crashed over the weekend. Chief Deputy Sheriff Thad Garner reported 6 inmates in custody. He reported a snowmobile accident over the weekend. The inmates painted the Jail over the weekend. There will be a state inspection coming up. Prosecuting Attorney Karl Lewies stated he has had a change of personnel in his office. Ryan Dustin will be the new civil deputy. He is from the Thomsen Stephens Law Offices in Idaho Falls. Coroner Bonnie Burlage stated she has been busy with snowmobile accidents and hopes they will end soon. She reported attending the County Coroners Meeting in Boise. One of the seminars that were held was regarding child death investigations. Ms. Burlage thanked Chief Deputy Sheriff Thad Garner for his help when they are out of town and he has to cover for them. Treasurer J Lene Cherry reported attending a lot of meetings last week at the Idaho Association of Counties one of which was on bankruptcy. They are seeing some of this throughout the county. She is busy working on warrants and pending issues. Ms. Cherry stated she would like to look into a company that can index and digitize the tax records from about 15 to 20 years ago so she will be able to access them. Assessor Kathy Thompson was unable to attend the meetings which she felt bad about. She stated they are working with people in the county on property reduction applications (circuit breaker). She stated that homes are selling but most of those are short sales or foreclosures. Clerk Abbie Mace reported that she took a couple weeks of vacation and then attended the IAC meetings last week in Boise. Tax Exemption forms have been sent out and they are trickling back in. Ms. Mace was informed by the State Historical Society in Boise no longer has room to store our records unless they are older than 15 year, therefore the counties can no longer send their records there to be stored. She stated we need to look at other possibilities for storing our records. Deputy Sheriff Bart Quayle offered their storage facility to store our records. Clerk Mace stated it has to be a secure facility. We will look at what options we have. Ms. Mace stated it would be more convenient if we could find a place to store records in the courthouse. Ms. Mace reported she is still unsure of how legislation will impact us this year. There was a really good presentation on Medicaid expansion that Ms. Mace hoped everyone got to listen to. They feel about 40,000 more people are going to qualify for Medicaid if the state chooses to go with full expansion of medicaid. She stated that the county bills that are trying to pass don t look too promising. There is a meeting next Tuesday, February 19 th in Idaho Falls that she will be attending with Kristina Larson on how the affordable care act will impact our county benefit plan. Commissioner Bill Baxter stated he went to an interesting meeting at the IAC Conference on learning how to dig up bodies. He thought overall it was a great conference. He enjoyed being able to sit in Representative Paul Romrell s office and visiting with him. Mr. Baxter reported the personal property issue is a tough topic that nobody really wants to take on. Commissioner Jordon Stoddard went to the IAC Conference also. He discussed the Right of Way bill they are trying to pass. There was also some discussion on ADA Compliance. There was some discussion on the roads in the county (Highway 20) and how the heavy trucks are affecting the roads and bridges. Clerk Mace stated there needs to be data that support this assumption. While in Boise, Mr. Stoddard discussed with Mr. Romrell the snowmobile sticker issue. They are under the impression that this is a done deal. Mr. Romrell stated he is afraid that it will take revenue away, which is the same concern that the county has. Commissioner Lee Miller stated he was happy to spend time with fellow commissioners at the IAC meetings. In the meeting Monday afternoon, they met with all the commissioners. There was a little bit of 1

2 discussion on the legality of paying public defenders a flat rate. Mr. Miller stated he attended the Juvenile Justice Meeting while in Boise. Topics of discussing were that Peace Officer Safety Training (POST) is not financially stable right now so they are looking at ways to help finance this. PREA Training has to be completed by August. He stated it was a good conference. Commissioner Miller made a motion to amend the agenda to include an executive session IC (1)(a) with Prosecuting Attorney Karl Lewies. Commissioner Miller made a motion to go into executive session pursuant to IC (1)(a) To consider hiring a public officer, employee, staff member or individual agent. This paragraph does not apply to filling a vacancy in an elective office; at 9:47 a.m. Commissioner Stoddard seconded the motion. A roll call vote was taken with Commissioner Miller voting Aye, Commissioner Stoddard voting Aye, and Commissioner Baxter voting Aye. Commissioner Miller declared the meeting open at 9:57 a.m. Amanda Ely/Targhee Regional Public Transportation Authority Ms. Ely stated what her purpose is, which is to ask the counties for contributions to help fund the TRPTA program. She discussed what TRPTA does for the county, providing bus rides to and from St. Anthony and some surrounding areas. Most of the people who ride are Medicaid patients which mean their ride is paid by Medicaid. Ms. Ely stated they requested $5,000 from the county in Medicaid does a match for what the county pays. Ms. Ely also stated they need a letter of intent by February 15 th that states how much the county is willing to pay for this service. The money has to be paid by April 1, Ms. Ely brought in a report for the commissioners to look at that shows how many trips were made to St. Anthony. It also shows that the majority of the trips were paid by Medicaid. There was discussion on trying to provide services to Ashton. Commissioner Miller told Ms. Ely that we would let them know what the county will do by February 15 th. Juvenile Probation Administrator Darin Burrell RE: Department Report There was some discussion on the meetings that Commissioner Miller attended with Darin Burrell in Boise last week. Mr. Burrell reviewed the quarterly report with the commissioners. Mr. Burrell stated there will be a seminar on Drug Awareness at the South Fremont High School on February 27, This seminar will discuss some of the signs to look for if a child is abusing drugs. Mr. Burrell discussed the issues surrounding marijuana. He believes it will be on the ballot to legalize its use in Weed Supervisor Bryce Fowler RE: Agreement with High Country Mr. Fowler brought in an agreement with High Country RC&D for the commissioners to sign. Commissioner Stoddard made a motion to sign the agreement for services between High Country RC & D and Fremont County with the noted changes (changing Skip Hurt s name to Lee Miller s). Commissioner Baxter seconded the motion. A full voice vote was heard with all commissioners voting in Mr. Fowler stated he would like to start planning for another shop to be built possibly next year. There was discussion on the upcoming season. Mr. Fowler discussed how many employees he will have to hire and then make sure they are all trained. Bryan Smith w/smith, Driscoll & Associates RE: Proposed Garnishment Changes Mr. Smith talked about a bill that has been proposed to the legislature regarding garnishments. There has been opposition to this bill and he wants to clear up any questions anyone may have regarding this bill. He stated they only deal with wage and bank garnishments. He brought a copy of the bill so the commissioners can read it themselves. Currently, the Sheriff can choose to hand deliver the garnishments or have them mailed. This bill was proposed to save money and to save work for the Sheriff. With the proposed bill, it allows the attorney to serve the papers personally and not have to go through a middle man. Mr. Smith discussed the concerns that the Fremont Sheriff s Office has regarding the proposed bill. Clerk Mace stated that we like to have a neutral third party that can be contacted for garnishment wage questions. That way, there are no harassing calls when trying to collect money. Mr. Smith stated that he feels things would run more efficiently with this proposed bill. Josh Warnke RE: AT&T Land Lease at the Chester Gravel Pit IT Administrator Lisa Turner stated that the lease for AT&T is up for renewal. Currently they pay $500 per month to lease the ground. Now, they would like a lower monthly payment of $397. Commissioner Miller 2

3 stated that we will not lower the monthly payment. Commissioner Miller directed Ms. Turner to have Chief Deputy Prosecutor Ryan Dustin look at the lease agreement we have with AT&T. Planning and Building Administrator Tom Cluff RE: Department Report Mr. Cluff stated things are going well in the office. Two new building permits were issued last Friday. Mr. Cluff was invited to speak about economic development at the Idaho Art Lab last week. He mentioned that they have lost two of their groomer operators as of this morning, so they are making some staffing changes. The Planning and Zoning Commission wants to make some changes in the Development Code regarding gravel pits so they will be working on that. Commissioner Miller made a motion to amend the agenda to discuss the land swap with the Forest Service and also to include an Executive Session IC (1)(b). Commissioner Baxter seconded the motion. A full voice vote was heard with all commissioners voting in Commissioner Stoddard stated that he does not feel that the land swap would be a good thing. Commissioner Miller feels that after the meeting that was held in Island Park, he feels they have a pretty good idea of how the residents in Island Park feel about the land swap. Most people are not in favor of it. Mr. Cluff stated that no definite plans can be made as far as businesses coming or how much building will occur until the land swap is finalized. Mr. Cluff stated he feels that the development company is still in the process of deciding if this is worth pursuing and they are still exploring their options. Commissioner Miller directed Mr. Cluff to hold off on writing a letter of support regarding the land swap with the Forest Service. Public Works Director Brandon Harris RE: Department Reports Road and Bridge - Mr. Harris reported that the Department of Lands application has been submitted. The estimated amount for the project is $6,000,000. This was submitted for the Yale-Kilgore road. They would like to clear the timber on the south side of the road also. Mr. Harris met with the engineers on the Ora Bridge. He stated that they would like to go with a four span pre-stressed concrete girder bridge. The total project would cost $5,946,000, which includes the County s $437,000 match. This might not include the studies on the river though. The estimated engineering costs would be $715,000. The county would need to come up with an additional $575,000 for this project. The engineered stamp redesign on Stone Bridge will be submitted this week. Mr. Harris has received an invoice for the 400 North Canal Bridge for the amount of $28, that will be paid to Cannon Builders Construction. Commissioners directed Mr. Harris to submit the bill to be paid. The Chester Bridge project has been put on hold until the county gets two 45 degree elbows for a 24 culvert to divert water around the construction and to get the license agreement signed. Mr. Harris also reported that Jeff Siddoway has offered to give cinders to the county if we will go get them. Commissioner Miller directed Mr. Harris to get a written agreement where the county is getting the cinders for free. Landfill Mr. Harris would like to review the Transfer Station plans with Commissioner Stoddard. Mr. Harris will also be meeting to discuss specifications and bidding documents. Sewer Mr. Harris attended training with John Brown from Island Park on Land Application and Load Modeling last week. He stated that JUB Engineering is working on final designs for the land application upgrades. Equipment Mr. Harris stated he will be holding a Road and Bridge Equipment meeting on Wednesday, February 13 th at 8:00 a.m. in his office and invited the commissioners to attend. He stated there are two CAT graders that are up for warranty on February 28 th and they need to make a decision on what they will do with them. Mr. Harris discussed the issues regarding fueling the busses on the north end of the school district. Commissioner Miller stated that in order to help fuel the busses, we would have to install a bigger tank with a new pump at the Ashton facility. Mr. Craig Summers, a representative from the Fremont School District, stated that the busses in the north end of the school district go through about 1184 gallons of fuel a month. Mr. Harris didn t have a quote on how much that would cost yet. The school district would have to pay for this improvement. Commissioner Miller stated the county has no need to replace it, but if the school district would like to fuel their busses there, we would have to get a bigger tank. It would be a vertical tank. 3

4 Sewer Supervisor Dan Lostutter RE: Annual Permit Reports Mr. Lostutter presented and reviewed the annual sewer permit reports to the commissioners for Last Chance and Mack s Inn sewer stations. Commissioner Miller asked Mr. Lostutter about the camera system they talked about purchasing at a previous meeting. Mr. Lostutter stated they will probably wait until next year to purchase something like this so they can budget for it. Work Meeting on Daybell/Clawson Pathway Vacation Present for the meeting were: Commissioners Lee Miller, Jordon Stoddard, and Bill Baxter Also present were: Chief Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Ryan Dustin, Clerk Abbie Mace, Deputy Clerk Laura Singleton, and Planning and Building Administrator Tom Cluff Mr. Cluff stated the Daybell s and Clawson s are seeking the vacation of two public pathways. Mr. Cluff stated that one of the pathways is between two pieces of property. He stated there is already public access to the river that is adequate for recreational purposes; therefore, these pathways are not needed. Commissioner Miller asked if these pathways reach the river. According to the public comment, at the public hearing, they do not. Mr. Cluff did not have an answer for that. Commissioner Stoddard agreed with Commissioner Miller that, according to public comment, the pathway does not reach the river anymore. The commissioners also stated that at the public hearing it was discussed that it is very hard to walk these pathways because of the swamp like area. Mr. Cluff stated that the pathway that people talked about using was possibly a path along the property line and not the pathways that need to be vacated. Commissioner Baxter made a motion for Mr. Cluff to write up the Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law granting vacation of the pathways, splitting the10 foot pathway between the adjacent property owners and the 20 foot pathway to the Clawsons. Commissioner Stoddard seconded the motion. A full voice vote was heard with all commissioners voting in Mark Chandler/Mule Deer Foundation RE: Purchasing a Building Mr. Chandler stated he has been holding fundraisers for many years for the Mule Deer Foundation, but they are having a hard time finding places to hold these events. He stated he is interested in purchasing the truss building that is for sale. He feels the county could benefit by purchasing the building. The Mule Deer Foundation will give the county $4500 in order to do studies to see if this is a feasible option for the county. Commissioner Miller asked Mr. Chandler if he has gone to the city and asked them if they would like to purchase it. Mr. Chandler stated that he has not, but he will. He is just asking the county to do a study to see if this is something the county would consider purchasing. The commissioners directed Mr. Chandler to talk to the city officials to see what they would be willing to do. They believe this part of the area is owned by the City of St. Anthony. Commissioner Miller made a motion to go into executive session pursuant to IC (1)(b) To consider the evaluation, dismissal or disciplining of, or to hear complaints or charges brought against, a public officer, employee, staff member or individual agent, or public school student; at 3:40 p.m. Commissioner Stoddard seconded the motion. A roll call vote was taken with Commissioner Stoddard voting Aye, Commissioner Miller voting Aye and Commissioner Baxter voting Aye. Commissioner Miller declared the meeting open at 3:58 p.m. Commissioner Miller made a motion to amend the agenda to discuss signing a letter to Chief Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Ryan Dustin regarding the court cases in which Blake Hall was retained as legal counsel. Commissioner Stoddard seconded the motion. A full voice vote was heard with all commissioners voting in Commissioner Miller made a motion to sign a letter to Mr. Ryan Dustin concerning the decision to retain Blake Hall as legal representative in the four pending cases which include Flying A Ranch vs. Fremont County, Gwaltney vs. Fremont County, Hildebrand, Huber vs. Fremont County, and Stoddard Brothers vs. 4

5 Fremont County. Commissioner Baxter seconded the motion. A full voice vote was heard with all commissioners voting in Miscellaneous Commissioner Miller made a motion to approve the claims for February 11, 2013 as presented. Commissioner Stoddard seconded the motion. A full voice vote was heard with all commissioners voting in Commissioner Stoddard made a motion to release the Mack s Inn Sewer LID Lien for Bret Fuller and John & Linda McCarthy Trust. Commissioner Baxter seconded the motion. A full voice vote was heard with all commissioners voting in Commissioner Baxter made a motion to ratify the signature for a grant for a new Razor for the Sand Dunes. Commissioner Stoddard seconded the motion. A full voice vote was heard with all commissioners voting in Commissioner Stoddard made a motion to approve the Junior College application for Carla Cooper. Commissioner Baxter seconded the motion. A full voice vote was heard with all commissioners voting in Commissioner Stoddard made a motion to approve the minutes from January 22, Commissioner Baxter seconded the motion. A full voice vote was heard with all commissioners voting in Commissioner Miller made a motion to sign the Pathology Agreement with Ada County. Commissioner Stoddard seconded the motion. A full voice vote was heard with all commissioners voting in Commissioner Miller made a motion to approve Liquor Catering Permit #1015 to Island Park Lodge on February 16, Commissioner Stoddard seconded the motion. A full voice vote was heard with all commissioners voting in There being no further business to come before the board the meeting was adjourned. Attest: Abbie Mace, Clerk LeRoy Miller, Chairman Fremont County Commission 5